Unknown Horizons
by luckyfiddler
Summary: After a push in the right direction, Harry realizes how precious life is and what he would do to save the lives of those he loves. Training.
1. Power Outage

A/N: Hi. This is my first story, but I'm not going to ask you to be nice. I want you to be as brutally honest as you can be. I personally think that it's the only way I'll learn to be a better writer. So, thanks to anyone reading and thanks to those who review.  
-Luckyfiddler

The night was black on Pivet Drive. Oddly enough, the streetlights were still out after a major power outage the week before. Because the blackout had affected all of Surrey, there weren't enough workers to put them back online for another few days. This was a topic that a rather large man had complained about to his giraffe-like wife a few dozen times daily.

Vernon and Petunia Dursley, the large man and giraffe-like woman respectively, were the residents of number 4 Pivet Drive. Usually their son, Dudley, would also be there, but he had been _privileged_ enough to attend a very special program at Smeltings that is commonly referred to as summer school. He had, of course, told his parents that it was only for the most gifted students in the school. They, typically, believed him.

There was one last occupant of the house who the owners looked down upon with scorn and remorse. He was a scrawny, young man with dull, bloodshot green eyes. His hands were callused from years of hard work and he seemed to have a permanent shadow of an ink stain on the first and second fingers of his right hand. This boy was Harry Potter, the nephew of the Dursleys.

Currently, Harry was on summer holiday from his school. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was the only place he ever really called home. The Dursley's house was just a place to eat, sleep, and do backbreaking labor. This summer was worse then any in the past.

'Sirius is dead,' Harry reminded himself. 'And it's all my fault. He died, Cedric died, my parents died, everyone will die. Die because of some bloody prophecy that says that I have to become a murderer.'

Murderer. That word had echoed in his mind everyday of the holidays. It was a foul word that reminded him of the horrors he'd seen in his short life. The horrors he believed he had to see in order to punish himself almost to the brink of insanity. Murderer.

Harry woke the next day with more pronounced bags under his eyes. He yawned and stretched and was in the process of putting a shirt on when he was rudely interrupted.

"Boy! Get up! Now you lazy freak!" Aunt Petunia screamed shrilly at the closed door. "You have to leave the day after tomorrow. Vernon and I are going to Diddy's school and then taking him to America until the semester begins. Contact your freak friends and tell them to pick you up tomorrow night before dinner." She turned around as if to leave before remembering to give him a piece of paper. "I want these chores done before you leave or we won't be so nice next summer."

Harry looked in disbelief at the piece of paper in hie hands. The list of chores was over twenty items long and included things like 'paint the house' and 'dig decorative pond'. He groaned slightly. 'Wow.' Harry thought 'I'll be kicked out of the house in just over twenty-four hours and was just given enough work to keep half a dozen men busy for a week.' He sighed while pulling out a quill and piece of parchment. 'Typical Dursleys.' Mumbling under his breath, he started to write to Dumbledore.

He quickly finished the letter and read it over once. It read...

_Professor Dumbledore,_

_I have a slight dilemma. My guardians, the Dursleys, are leaving for the United States until the end of the summer. I respectively request to be moved from my current residence to ... a place more suitable. Unfortunately, I wasn't given much notice and need to be picked up before seven o'clock tomorrow evening. _

_-Harry Potter_

"Pretty cold," He muttered. "But he deserves it for keeping that damn prophecy secret for so long."

He called Hedwig to him and tied the letter to her foot. That night, he dreamt of something rather unusual.

End ch1

A/N: I'll try to review once or twice a week, depending on reviews. I won't, however, give up on this story because I believe that anything can look good after a lot of sugar and caffiene!  
Thanks again!


	2. Discussions pt1

A/N: Hi again. I forgot to add a disclaimer to the last chapter, so I'll do that now.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything relating to Harry Potter. All copyrights belong to JKR and other people. Thanks.

Chapter 2

For the first time since the beginning of summer began, Harry slept peacefully. It was a dream in which he was walking through a large, grassy field with wild flowers blooming all around him. He slowly walked around for a little while before the landscape violently changed to a picnic table outside a small, inviting redbrick house.

"I know this place." He murmured, his eyes taking in the scenery and lingering on a set of initials carved into a tree he was standing by. "I know this place from long ago."

"Yes, my dear boy, you do." A soft voice echoed behind him.

Harry abruptly turned around, searching frantically for the source of the voice. There, in the doorway of the house, stood two people who seemed so familiar to him. Then it clicked.

"Mum, Dad? Is it really you?" He asked, unable to keep a note of disbelief out of his voice. "Where am I? How am I here? How are _you_ here? You're dead." He paused momentarily. "I killed you." He finished softly.

"Harry, son, first of all, you didn't kill us. It was my fault that Peter was the one we trusted with your life." James's voice was smooth and clam. "As for your questions, they certainly are good ones. So good that I will let your mother answer them for you." He chuckled softly before continuing. "She's better with the technical aspects of this stuff then I am."

"Oh hush you!" Lily chided quietly while turning to face Harry. "You're so much bigger then when I saw you last." Tears sprang to her eyes while she smiled fondly at him. "We'll talk all about the past later. Right now, I need to answer your questions." She composed herself before launching into an explanation.

Half an hour later...

"So, I'm currently in a realm where minds go when they are in a deep state of relaxation like sleep, meditation, and death?" Harry stated while his parents nodded. "That still doesn't answer why I'm here. I haven't been in a state of complete peace for a very, very long time. Please, tell me how I'm here and more importantly why I'm here." He looked in both his mum and dad's eyes before continuing. "I need to know the whole truth for once in my life."

Lily and James looked at each other and sighed.

"Sit down Harry."

With that, they told him everything.

End ch2

A/N: If you liked it, please review. If you didn't, let me know so that I can improve.  
-Luckyfiddler


End file.
